The start menu on Windows Vista has changed a fair bit. The new start menu no longer has sub menus that pop out like in Windows XP although if you are used to this form of menu system, you can still use the classic menu system by following the following steps:
1) Right click on the taskbar
2) Choose Properties from the menu
3) Now click on the Start Menu tab
The next step is to click on Classic Start menu
Now Click OK
You now can see the classic start menu that was available through XP but with the interface more like Windows 98, 95, 2000 and 2003
In the Classic Start menu there is only one pane which includes the Run command that is not featured on the Windows Vista start menu layout. To run a program you can still do so easily by pressing the [Windows key]+R or you can also add the Run command permanently to the start menu. This will be detailed later on in the chapter on the new Start Menu.
As you can see the Search item is still included, but now a new search technology is used that uses fast indexing. You are now able to search as you type, though documents that are not in your profile directory (not in documents, pictures, music, etc) and that are not accessed very often will take a bit longer to search through. Fast indexing is talked about more in the Windows Search section.
The Programs section of the start menu is what is different to the Vista way of having the start menu as you will see in the next screenshot.
The new start menu layout is based on 2 parts
On the left you have a list of the latest applications that you have used, with the most used applications staying on the list. Also you can pin items to the start menu, so they will not be replaced by recently used applications. By default you have 2 applications, Internet Explorer and Windows Mail pinned to the start menu.
You also have a button called All Programs, which is similar to XP except when you click it, no sub menus pop out, but instead they expand in the same left pane. You also have a search bar below, which allows for quick searching of files and folders throughout the operating system with search indexing.
On the right you have a list of folders that are unique to your user login to Windows including the Documents, Pictures, Music folders which were all available previously in XP but under the names My Documents, My Pictures and My music. Games opens up the games folder with all the Windows Vista games that are installed on your PC. Search opens up a search window with choices of various search patterns and advanced options. Recent Items shows a list of recently accessed documents or files. Computer opens up a window containing your drives and information about your computer, it was previously called My Computer in XP. Network opens up networks and network devices, this was previously called My Network Places in XP. Connect to allows you to set up a connection to the Internet or a Network. Control Panel opens up a window containing all the configuration options for your PC and is discuss in the control panel section. Default programs allows you to choose particular programs to open particular files. Help and Support opens the help center in Windows Vista for further help.
When you click on 'All Programs' you will get a list of programs in the same left pane. You also get the list of programs underneath folders such as the accessories folder seen in the screenshot on the left.
If you were looking for the Run command it can be found under accessories in the start menu.
You can also find the sleep mode button and lock workstation button as well as an arrow next to lock workstation that has other options like Switch User, Log Off, Lock, Restart, Sleep, Hibernate and Shut Down.
By default Windows Vista has the Sleep option enabled so when you click the 
button it will enter your computer into a low power mode that will enable a faster startup rather than the regular shut down mode that switches off the whole system completely and therefore requires all files to be reloaded when you switch on the PC the next time like in XP. You can find more power options in the power options section.
Above you can see that there are many options to customize the start menu such as choosing whether to display the Computer link on the start menu or to have the Computer link display a list of its contents instead of having to open up a new with and choose the contents that way.
To get to the Customize Start Menu, you can follow the same instructions as on the top of this page by right clicking on the taskbar and choosing properties then clicking on the Start Menu tab at the top. Then click the Customize button whether you are using the new style Vista start menu (top option) or the older style (classic) start menu below it.
You can also gain access to this menu by right clicking the Windows Orb - where the Start button was located in XP, and choose properties.
Windows Vista users a higher security method of running programs called User Access Control (UAC). This new method requires you to provide the correct credentials for the administrator account when you try to install or delete programs and also when you change system settings. In order to run a program in administrator mode you can do so by right clicking on the program, on the start menu for example like the screenshot on the left shows. You then can choose Run as administrator. Now the program you are running in administrator mode will not ask you whether you need to enter credentials or not which is suitable if you are familiar with the security precautions of the program, however not very secure if you are uncertain.
As has been discussed at the top of this page, folders such as Documents and Pictures were known as My Documents and My Pictures in Windows XP. To access these douments from the hard drive that can be done by browsing through the hard drive where you have installed Windows Vista (usually the C drive - C:\ ) and entering a folder named Users and then your username on Vista, for example if your username is Bill, open the folder named Bill. Inside the bill folders you will find various folders such as:
Contacts - a folder containing your contacts added to Windows Mail and used by other programs on Windows Vista.
Desktop - where files that you have saved onto the desktop can be found.
Documents - the documents folder where documents are saved by default unless otherwise specified.
Downloads - a default folder used for files downloaded from the Internet through Windows Internet Explorer.
Favorites - the folder where your bookmarks are kept and can be viewed as links.
Links - a folder containing shortcut files that appear on the left of the Windows Explorer windows under the heading 'Favorite Links' and contains the links; Documents, Pictures, Music, Recently Changed and Searches by default.
Music - a folder containing music that you have created or downloaded.
Pictures - a folder containing pictures that you have created or downloaded.
Saved Games - a folder containing saved game data that is used by Windows Vista games to remember your previous scores and games status.
Searches - a folder containing recent searches done of various media including documents, pictures, music and videos.
Videos - a folder containing videos that you have created or downloaded.
These folders can be accessed also in the command prompt (cmd) by typing cd documents at any time no matter what directory you are in, so you can save on typing if you require command line access.
